Missing Mark by Julie Kramer

This the second Riley Spartz book, and it was amusing. My complaint from the first book, about too much background slowing down the narrative has been fixed, although at times Riley’s asides about the news business irritated me.

However, this was another interesting mystery, again set during sweeps time and Riley’s character development continued.

I’m definitely looking forward to the next Riley mystery. She’s a fun feisty mystery heroine.

X-Rated Bloodsuckers by Mario Acevedo

Felix has survived Operation Iraqi Freedom, being turned into a vampire, and a ravenous horde of nymphomaniacs. Now he faces his toughest task ever—navigating the corrupt world of Los Angeles politics to solve the murder of a distinguished young surgeon turned porn star. But both human and vampire alike have reasons to want the secret to stay buried. . .
The title is really not totally related to the novel and more for shock value, and I could understand how it might turn some people away.

My uncle recommended this to me because it was funny. So I gave it a try while on vacation. It was funny, clever and entertaining, plus it had a fairly good mystery.

Quick read. And I can’t wait to read the other too, I like Felix.

Dead until dark by Charlaine Harris

I want to watch True Blood, plus I want to know what was so appealing since I can’t keep these on the shelf at my library.
Well I found out, and am now anxiously waiting to read the rest of the series.

Sookie is fun. She’s spunky, it’s a short book, so it’s easy to get through. There’s a credible mystery. The resolution comes quick and they don’t spend much time with it after that. So for all those reasons I liked it.

The Extra by Elizabeth Sims

This is the second in the Rita Farmer series, and I enjoyed this first one, so I was looking forward to reading this. And it didn’t disappoint. The author only switched POVs for two characters, which made it less choppy. Also, about a year has passed since the last story. I like Rita, she’s fun, smart, and a great actress.

This time Rita is an extra in a movie, and she wanders away from the set in her cop uniform and is mistaken for a real officer when a shooting occurs. It turns out the victim is the grandson of a local hero, who runs a shelter where Rita once turned for help. Rita and George Rowe get caught up in the shady business occuring at the shelter.

My only criticism is the story dragged on a bit. . . at 380 pages I wanted the climax to come sooner.

Brewed, Crude and Tattooed by Sandra Balzo

Another entry in the Maggy Thorsen series, quite a quick read, barely 200 pages. Basically it was a locked room mystery with all the tenants of Benson’s Strip Mall trapped together due to a freak spring snow shower.

Maggie stumbles over a dead body, that of the Strip Mall owner, and proceeds to make out her suspects list and bumble around asking questions. She figures it out (of course) in the end.

There was a weird side plot with her son, and no Jake Pavlik this time, which was unfortunate because I like him. Also, it will be interesting to see what happens next as things kind of end up in the air.

Also, I didn’t get the title.

Cut, Crop and Die by Joanna Campbell Slan

This is the second of the Kiki Lowenstein mysteries and at first, I thought, hmm not sure if I’ll be reading these again since some of my earlier concerns about sequencing where not addressed, and Kiki didn’t really seem to be in amateur sleuth mode. But then came a twist, which surprised me, and after that point I had to admit I like Kiki and am more interested in her as a character than the secondary mystery plot line. The supporting cast of characters are equally fun as well.

When a woman dies at a scrapbooking retreat hosted by the store Kiki works for, she starts to do a little snooping. Her mother in law is also dealing with moles, which make for some funny scenes, and her daughter is rushing to be a grown-up. How will Kiki cope?

I’ll be looking forward to the third book in the series.

Life Sentences by Laura Lippman

I like Laura Lippman, and this stand alone mystery was intriguing. The ending wrapped up a little too neatly for me, but I enjoyed reading it.

Here’s the summary:

Author Cassandra Fallows has achieved remarkable success by baring her life on the page. Her two widely popular memoirs continue to sell briskly, acclaimed for their brutal, unexpurgated candor about friends, family, lovers—and herself. But now, after a singularly unsuccessful stab at fiction, Cassandra believes she may have found the story that will enable her triumphant return to nonfiction.

When Cassandra was a girl, growing up in a racially diverse middle-class neighborhood in Baltimore, her best friends were all black: elegant, privileged Donna; sharp, shrewd Tisha; wild and worldly Fatima. A fifth girl orbited their world—a shy, quiet, unobtrusive child named Calliope Jenkins—who, years later, would be accused of killing her infant son. Yet the boy’s body was never found and Calliope’s unrelenting silence on the subject forced a judge to jail her for contempt. For seven years, Calliope refused to speak and the court was finally forced to let her go. Cassandra believes this still unsolved real-life mystery, largely unknown outside Baltimore, could be her next bestseller.

But her homecoming and latest journey into the past will not be welcomed by everyone, especially by her former friends, who are unimpressed with Cassandra’s success—and are insistent on their own version of their shared history. And by delving too deeply into Calliope’s dark secrets, Cassandra may inadvertently unearth a few of her own—forcing her to reexamine the memories she holds most precious, as the stark light of truth illuminates a mother’s pain, a father’s betrayal . . . and what really transpired on a terrible day that changed not only a family but an entire country.

Classic Crave: Sofie Metropolis by Tori Carrington

Sofie Metropolis should be married. But when she caught her groom and her maid of honor carrying on with each other in the church, Sofie canceled the wedding. She took the honeymoon by herself, and she kept all the presents, including a small apartment building filled with just the sort of quirky tenants you’d expect in an old Queens neighborhood like Astoria. Sofie should be waiting tables-her father and grandfather have competing restaurants on opposite corners. Instead, she’s a juniorvery junior-private investigator at her Uncle Spyros’s detective agency. Which means she finds missing pets and takes photos of people’s spouses doing things they shouldn’t.Sofie’s life takes another unexpected turn when her latest cheating spouse case turns into attempted murder-of Sofie-and she’s rescued by a dashing Australian bounty hunter. And there’s a missing “vampire” to find, not to mention Sofie’s mother’s best friend’s lost dog . . . .

Good read. Nicely developed characters. Some similar elements to Stephanie Plum series. Not really a mystery, but quick and easy to read.

Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley

This was a slow starter, and when it did get interesting, it was ok, but didn’t grip me the way I wanted. Plus I’d pretty much figured out what was going on. And I don’t really like it when I’m smarter than the characters.
I enjoyed the hockey scenes. That was interesting.
Otherwise, I’m not sure I’d pick up another one. I think this might be the start of series. And really it’s ok as a standalone. I don’t care enough about the characters, plus some it was fuzzy in my head, and really the prologue didn’t make sense, even in the end. If an author is going to do a prologue at least take the time to tie up that loose end.

Here’s the official summary from the back of the book:

n the dead of a Michigan winter, pieces of a snowmobile wash up near the crumbling, small town of Starvation Lake — the same snowmobile that went down with Starvation’s legendary hockey coach years earlier. But everybody knows Coach Blackburn’s accident happened five miles away on a different lake. As rumors buzz about mysterious underground tunnels, the evidence from the snowmobile says one thing: murder.

Gus Carpenter, editor of the local newspaper, has recently returned to Starvation after a failed attempt to make it big at the “Detroit Times,” In his youth, Gus was the goalie who let a state championship get away, crushing Coach’s dreams and earning the town’s enmity. Now he’s investigating the murder of his former coach. But even more unsettling to Gus are the holes in the town’s past and the gnawing suspicion that those holes may conceal some dark and disturbing secrets secrets that some of the people closest to him may have killed to keep.

Paper, Scissors, Death by Joanna Campbell Slan

I enjoy scrapbooking. I enjoy mysteries. So when this crossed my desk, well it was a no brainer with the subtitle: A Kiki Lowenstein Scrap-N-Craft mystery.

Kiki lives in a wealthy St. Louis suburb and when her husband is found dead, naked, in a hotel room, she loses her comfortable life and sets out to find her husband’s killer. Hunky detective Chad Lowenstein helps her.

I was pleased with this book – it incorprates some good scrapbooking tips and it was a good mystery. The ending sets up what I hope is going to be a series.

Kiki is likable and there’s a great quirky cast of secondary characters. My only trouble was with sequencing- sometimes it was hard to know what day it was and when stuff had happened.

All in all an enjoyable read and I look forward to Kiki’s next adventure.